Divinyls singer Chrissy Amphlett battling breast cancer

SYDNEY (Reuters Life!) - Australian singer Chrissy Amphlett, former lead singer of rock group the Divinyls, is battling breast cancer.

Amphlett, who revealed three years ago that she had multiple sclerosis, said the recent diagnosis had "thrown her for a six."

"It's s---- and it's unfair, but life is not fair -- even rock stars get breast cancer," Amphlett told Australia's The Age newspaper from New York, where she is being treated.

"But there've been many girls before me who have dealt with it successfully. It's easy to feel sorry for me but I feel sorry for people who are suffering it alone."

Amphlett said she had decided to go public with her diagnosis because her family knew but friends and fans would be wondering why she was not answering emails.

The singer, who turns 51 years-old next week, told the newspaper that she was seeking treatment in New York where she lives with her husband of 11 years, former Divinyls drummer Charley Drayton.

"With my MS it makes my treatment a little more difficult. I can't have radiation and things like that," she said.

"But I have the best people here ... I'm strong and I will get over this. I have love around me; I have my husband and I have a sister in (Australian state) Victoria who is also a breast cancer survivor."

Amphlett rose to fame as the lead singer of the Divinyls in the 1980s, wearing schoolgirl uniforms with torn fishnet tights on stage.
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